September 30: The silver lining to traffic congestion

For once, I am happy to be stuck in traffic. My eyes were bombarded with a feast of colours as I inched my way along the Don Valley Parkway: a balance of vivid reds of the maples, with the darker red of the sumac, and the yellows of the birch.

Among the many people that come into my life that inspires me are Corinne and Sister Rosemary. Corinne is a physician scheduler. In 2008, I called her up to ask if she would let me off the hook for a shift that was standing between me and my mission to Haiti. She replied that her friend, Sister Rosemary, would not like it if she didn’t let me go. Sister Rosemary is a wonderful nun who has dedicated over 30 years helping children in Haiti. When I returned from Haiti in 2008, I had the opportunity to meet both Corinne and Sister Rosemary. How inspiring! It gives me impetus to continue giving more of myself to those less fortunate than I.

September 29: Working for the fun of it

I am amazed with the empowering and positive attitude that is rooted in the Immigrant Women’s Health Centre’s philosophy. Each time I work with Anna and Lina, and others in the team, I get loads of warm fuzzies. So it was more fun than work to spend a day on their mobile clinic today (day 2 of the 5 1/2 weeks of work). A bonus is that I get to practice Spanish today.

Remember the major wipeout I had on my bike a couple weeks back? I just found out today how major a wipeout I had. My bike had been an awful ride since, so I stopped by the bike shop today. It turns out that I bent my handlebar, twisted my rear wheel, misaligned my gears, and jammed my gear cables. With this much damage to my bike, it’s a wonder that I didn’t do more damage to my body. After doling out a significant amount of money, my bike is just purring. I was keen to spend some time on my newly tuned up bike so decided to ride to my evening event. This turned out to be a good thing because my car would have been stuck in traffic for a good hour if I had attempted to drive. The last Blue Jays home game of the season was being played against the Yankees around the corner from home. Oh how I wish I could cancel my plans and go to the game instead! I admit to being a bit of a traitor, as I am a huge Yankees fan.

But then, other obligations require my presence elsewhere. I have been the organizer of an internet based adventurous dining group for the past 2 1/2 years. Its membership has grown from under 200 members to about 700 members currently. Tonight, I am hosting an event at L.A.B., recently opened by the only mainstream vegetarian chef in Toronto, Howard Dubrovsky. While this year is dedicated to right brain function, tonight’s event did tap into my chemistry background with molecular structures on the walls and test tubes forming light fixtures. To add to the conversation, we had a material science engineer and chemistry/biology teacher in our midst, lending their viewpoints to the discussion of food preparation in the realm of molecular gastronomy.

September 28: Aiming for perfection

Finally! The final version burned!

For the past 6 months, I have been working on a DVD containing songs developed by my public health team during my recent stint in Haiti with the Red Cross. To make a bigger impact, I decided to create a DVD, which can be used by other Red Cross units and organizations. However, each time I work on the DVD, I find new things that need to be changed--first it was editing the Creole, then it was trouble with the way the DVD is set up, then there were words that needed to be edited. My lack of familiarity with the DVD creating program created chaos each time I attempted to edit the DVD setup. Finally today, with the help of the Apple Store’s One to One Personal Workshop facilitator, I managed to remove all the kinks--at least I hope so...

Today I got a much needed dose of encouragement from Caroline over tea and yummy sweets at Thuet. Thank you, Caroline!

September 27: Eating my veggies

I don’t know what possessed me to buy a head of cauliflower. I’m definitely not a fan of the vegetable. It may have been the price (99 cents for the head), the freshness of the produce, or maybe even peer pressure from my mother (‘mother pressure’). In any case, I opened the fridge to find a big head of cauliflower staring at me.

When I decided to take a year off work, I did not doubt that some of the creativity would happen in the kitchen. So the new goal: to make cauliflower palatable to me. The resulting chowder was so good that I ate it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner today. I polished off the whole pot of soup and plan to make another batch soon. The dish: roasted cauliflower corn chowder.

Just to make sure that I wasn’t consuming only healthy foods, I threw in a batch of brownies into the oven. The juxtaposition of crunchy walnuts, tart cranberries, and creamy white chocolate chunks enrobed in rich chocolatey yumminess created a great mouth sensation.

Here is the recipe for the roasted cauliflower corn chowder:

1 medium onion, finely diced

1 carrot, finely diced

1 stalk celery, finely diced

1 potato, finely diced

1 bay leaf

2 cups vegetable broth

2 cups water

1/2 head cauliflower

1 can cream style corn

1-2 tbsp oil

Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

Prepare the cauliflower by cutting it into florets, lightly coating them with oil. Roast in the oven at 350 deg F for about 40 minutes until slightly browned and tender, then chop into small pieces, similar in size to the onions, etc.

In a pot, heat oil. Saute onion until caramelized. Add carrot and celery. Add broth, water, bay leaf, and potato. Cook over medium heat for about 1/2 hour (longer if you have time--this will help with the melange of flavours). Add the roasted cauliflower and corn. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Sorry, no photos--it didn't look as photogenic as I had hoped.

Today marks the first day of work of this year off. Chris, the longtime manager of the clinic, is about to retire and I really wanted to get a chance to see her before she heads off. She will be missed.

September 26: Poutine feeding frenzy

Poutine: nutritional value: minus 9 1/2, emotional value: plus 10

(the 1/2 point awarded for the smidgen of calcium in the cheese)

There is really nothing redeeming about poutine, at least not from a nutritional standpoint: the salt, the fat, the calories, the high carbs, the close to zero vitamins within. But for its comfort food status, it really should not be consumed. Poutine might not sound like something you would want to eat but rest assured, it is really yummy.

What is poutine? Poutine consists of hot fries topped off with cheese curds and gravy. A few months ago, a New York Times food critic visited Toronto looking for his first encounter with poutine and reported his positive experience. There is even a debate on whether or not poutine should be given status as Canada’s national food. (While the idea is interesting, it cannot really take the title since many Canadians don’t even know what it is.) For years while living in Quebec, I had heard about poutine, but was not able to consume it as I am vegetarian. Recently, a couple places have opened up in Toronto with a vegetarian gravy version. I admit that I obsess about poutine, ever since my first taste 2 years ago. I think of devouring a basket of those tasty morsels all on my own. I succumb to my desire on the odd occasion, and today was one of those days. (For the record, this is only the third time I’ve had poutine this year.)

September 25: Drama on canvas

I have a membership to the Art Gallery of Ontario so often drop in for a visit.

I popped in to see the Drama & Desire exhibit, just because it was about to close. I hadn’t been for a while and the first encounter did not leave me with any great impressions. However, the second visit was a lot more enjoyable, seeing David’s neoclassical paintings, Vuillard and Moreau’s theatrical pieces, a captivating toy theatre stage, and some of Degas’ famous ballerinas.

To cap off the visit, I popped into the Art Square Cafe across the street for some tea and profiteroles smothered in a rich chocolate sauce--mmm!

September 24: Family time and solitude

I sent my parents off today. One last stop before the airport: dim sum at Graceful with some takeout for snacks while in flight. It has been an eventful 9 days with my parents. I am happy that they had the energy to do more than sit at home during this visit.

I am once again on my own. What am I going to do for the rest of the day?

For me, the ultimate luxury is to make a pot of my favourite loose leaf tea to savour in solitude.

September 23: An oasis in the heart of Toronto

My father had talked about a visit to Toronto Islands for almost a couple of decades, since I first moved out to Toronto. I had thought that this wish would be fulfilled with the Harbour Tour on Sunday but failed due to dock repairs. It didn’t even look like it would happen given the weather forecast for the remainder of his visit. Today, when the sun came up and the waters looked relatively calm, we headed across the street for another go. This time, we were lucky. While the skies were a bit greyer, we were able to stop off on the islands and even rented a quadricycle.

Toronto Islands is a string of islands that protect the inner harbour of Toronto. It is home to a very large city park, a small amusement park, the city airport, and a small community. Even though I live less than a 5 minute walk from the island ferry terminal, I had only recently rediscovered the joy of visiting this oasis from the bustling city.

After the hard work cycling to Ward’s Island, we headed to the Pearl, a Chinese restaurant overlooking the lake at Harbourfront.

We really had just finished lunch when we had to make our way to dinner. Tonight, some of my parents’ oldest friends were meeting for dinner. By my calculations there were a couple people who have known my father for about 67 years! It was probably a good thing that I didn’t have much of a voice: I just sat back and listened to all the stories of my parents’ childhood and young adult lives.

September 22: Moon gazing

Today is Mid-Autumn Festival, or Harvest Moon Festival in some circles.

Along with it being a special day of celebration, it also happens to be the day that our family celebrates my mother’s birthday. Since she was born on such an auspicious day, her birthday has always been celebrated according to the lunar calendar rather than the Gregorian calendar. The day started out cloudy, which is not conducive to the main activity of the evening, which is moon gazing. Luckily, by the time we finished up eating all the foods that relates to this occasion (eddoes, fresh peanuts, and moon cakes for the festival and noodles for the birthday), the skies had cleared, revealing a perfectly round moon shining over the waters of Lake Ontario.

September 21: Admiring treasures of old

I am really not one for artifacts, so despite my art gallery membership card allowing free access to the Royal Ontario Museum, I hardly ever darken its door. The building itself, I do like. I know that there has been extremely polar views regarding Daniel Libeskind’s ‘Crystal’. Those who love it and those who hate it. I personally love it: I love the dramatic modern crystal emerging from the greystone building of old.

Here is a link to some of the early/construction photos:

http://torontoist.com/2007/05/inside_the_rom.php

With my parents in town, I thought it was a good opportunity to check out the Chinese galleries and the Warrior Emperor and China’s Terracotta Army exhibit that is currently being hosted by the ROM. This exhibit, while small in scale when compared to the original in Xi’an, is very well curated, giving excellent historical background information so necessary in the appreciation of these terra cotta figures. My recommendation: if you can get to Xi’an, opt for that. If not, this is a great alternative to view some artifacts from this immense archeological find.

Today, C5 was only open for lunch, which is too bad. Otherwise, its afternoon tea is one of my favourites in town--high tea with a twist: profiteroles stuffed with caramelized onions, perfectly baked quiche, and a good pot of tea in the restaurant overlooking Philosopher’s Walk.

September 20: Living without a voice

I opened my mouth this morning and noted that I still have no voice.

It was a beautiful day, just perfect to get a long walk in to work off some of the many meals I’ve been consuming with my parents--and it doesn’t require a voice! I arrived at Ryerson for my second Creative Writing class. We read our stories one by one, critiquing them in turn. Oh, I’ll have to work hard to be just half as good as some of my classmates!

September 19: Playing tourist on home turf

I am still voiceless today so a few tweaks in my agenda to accommodate this status:

cruising OK

eating OK

improv not OK

movie watching OK

It is such a pleasant day out that we decided to walk across the street and take the one hour harbour cruise. It was a pleasant diversion, presenting the Toronto skyline from a different angle. The Toronto Island dock was closed for repairs so we were not able to stop off on the island today.

I had planned to run the Terry Fox Run today. It is my yearly 10 k run. Please excuse me though, as I am sick today and also hosting my parents. I do feel badly about missing this yearly event as I had another reason to run this year: my aunt Helen, who was like a big sister to me for many years, succumbed to a rare form of ovarian cancer this past year. That makes 4 family members that I run for each time I head out on the Terry Fox Run. For those of you who aren’t Canadians, let me tell you a bit about Terry Fox, someone who continues to inspire me. When he was still in his teens, he had a dream: to run across Canada using his one good leg and his one prosthetic leg the equivalent distance of a marathon each day to raise money for cancer research. This journey started in April 1980 and ended prematurely 5373 km later, about halfway across Canada, just outside Thunder Bay when it was discovered that his cancer had recurred. He died about a year later. Since then, many Canadians and even many in other countries continue his dream by running the Terry Fox Run, raising money for cancer research. The money raised has made a difference. Many cancer treatments have been discovered with the extra funding provided by the Terry Fox Foundation.

Improv is definitely not something you can participate in without a voice so I decided to skip class and attend the free screening of the People’s Choice Awarded film. This year, the prize went to ‘The King’s Speech’.

September 18: Down time

This is the third September in a row that my larynx decides to take a holiday. I have lost my voice once again. I take this opportunity to bow out of my social engagements of the day. Well, it isn't a bad way to catch up on some much needed sleep.

September 17: Foodaholism is hereditary

The nice thing about having my parents visit is that my schedule is not as hectic, adjusting to a pace that is much more humane. My mother and I work in my tiny kitchen, making combinations of fresh juices, noodle salads, and other tasty experiments. We just ate, drank, and enjoyed each other's company today.

September 16: Mom & Dad

Today, my parents are coming from Vancouver for a visit. I feel so fortunate for this and have plans to spoil them rotten this coming week. For the past year, my father has been gravely ill, and my mother has had to deal with the stress of taking care of him. In February, I didn’t even think that my father would survive past this year. However, for the past few months, he has been improving bit by bit.

September 15: TIFFing is hard work

The TIFF lineup is finally getting shorter--there were only a dozen people in front of me at 6:15 a.m. I can’t wait till tomorrow when I can actually sleep in past 6 a.m.!

It turns out that both the films for today were dealing with suspense--I don’t know if I just precipitate towards this genre or whether it is an underlying theme of this year’s festival.

September 14: TIFFing continues

I am back in the TIFF ticket line just after 6 a.m. This is so different from last year when I could waltz right in at 7 a.m. and have my choice of films. I am so not doing this again--not until TIFF gets its ticketing system into the 21st century. At least I got the ticket I wanted though: ‘Miral’. Seeing this moving film is almost worth all the trouble. Julian Schnabel, an Oscar-winning Jewish American, created a beautiful film about a young Palestinian activist. It is fitting that this film is shown here in Toronto, where those of Palestinian or Jewish heritage live in relative harmony with each other.

September 13: Back to school

Today was spent with another humanitarian agency: ADRA. In 1999, I had the opportunity to work in Cambodia under the umbrella of this organization. Since then, I’ve continued to be involved with this agency, which does so much with so little money.

I now sit on ADRA Canada board (there are ADRA offices in over 120 countries). I listened to young Christina Masching, describing her experience getting transitional shelters up in Petit Goave, Haiti--impressive work!

The day was long, but there is more: today is the first day of my Creative Writing class at Ryerson.

September 12: Cornwall/Ottawa/Toronto

I took a short walk along the Waterfront Trail in Cornwall. I guess if I continue walking long enough, I could end up back at home in Toronto.

We wrapped up what I would consider a successful weekend, headed back to Ottawa airport, then scattered our different ways.

The bonus of flying Porter Airlines is that it gets me within walking distance of home. Along the walk, I heard strains of baroque music being played nearby in the Music Garden--a nice brief “stop and smell the roses” experience.

I quickly dropped off my bags and headed out to my improv class. When I had decided to take a year off, I was looking at what I would like to do with my time. I checked around for an improv comedy class and came up with the Impatient Theatre Company’s Improv 101, intensive version. Kevin, the founder of the company, is a dynamic and positive teacher. Those three days in August spent in his improv class instilled in me not only some basic improv skills, but better self-awareness and interpersonal skills. For those in Toronto, I highly recommend this class: it gets my vote for the best freebie in Toronto!

September 11: Sharing experiences in Cornwall

How I wish I had time for a leisurely walk along the canal this morning, but my agenda did not permit this diversion. I was heading to Cornwall for a Red Cross debriefing on the Haiti mission. I am looking forward to seeing some familiar faces and some new ones.

The get-together was taking place at NAV Canada, which is a navigation training centre. I think the architect of the building took that to heart when he designed the building, what with the warren of tiny rooms and many-angled corridors.

This reunion was one filled with strong emotions: an overwhelming sense of loss that came with witnessing destruction firsthand, a sense of pride in our accomplishments, and a sense of fellowship in a common experience.

September 10: I'm home (in Toronto...briefly)

I know I have a year to do all the things I want to do and that I am only 10 days into this year, but I can’t seem to get away from my usual vertigo inducing agenda. I arrived on the red-eye flight into Toronto Pearson at 6 a.m., headed home, dropped off my bags, then headed out once again to the TIFF ticket lineup. Finally, I was able to get some tickets!

The first film of the day was “Legends of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen”. This was a tribute movie marking what would have been Bruce Lee’s 70th birthday. While I’ve never seen a Bruce Lee/martial arts flick before and would not have signed up for the film but for its convenient time slot, I did thoroughly enjoy the film. The use of a larger-than-life figure in a historical context, coupled with some fascinating action sequences made it a light but entertaining introduction to my TIFF 2010 experience. I will have to see “Fist of Fury” now.

Three films later, I got on my bike, then skidded into a spectacular wipeout a couple minutes later, then almost got run over by a taxi not 5 minutes later. I think I’ll have to stop biking in mid-afternoon traffic--it really feels like I am taking a gamble every time I venture out.

I tried to squeeze another event in before my flight out of town: the Vegetarian Food Fair. This festival is the largest of its kind in North America and it takes place across the street from my home! With my suitcase in tow, I quickly walked passed the booths, picking up a couple samples here and there.

A fast 15 minute walk-jog brought me to the the Billy Bishop Airport on Toronto Island. I didn’t even get to spend a night in my own bed!

September 9: Food, family, and friends

My second day in Vancouver was filled with more food, family, and friends.

I started off accompanying my father to his daily tai chi session. Remember when I said that one of my goals for this year is to maximize my health? I would like to work on my agility and balance and have been debating whether I should take up tai chi or yoga. Maybe you, my readers, wish to weigh in on the nuances between the two.

It has been only 1 1/2 weeks since the start of this blog but it has already facilitated bringing me in contact with friends that otherwise would not have occurred. This was the case with Esther and Dino, who just happened to be flying into Vancouver this morning. Esther and her family has had a long history with our family--our fathers have known each other for over half a century! She is a beautiful, intelligent, and graceful young woman who recently married Dino, a charming, handsome, diplomatic man--they make a beautiful couple. In addition, I can appreciate Dino’s credentials as a chef. We had dim sum at Rainflower Restaurant, as I make a regular pilgrimage here for the aromatic durian puffs.

In the afternoon, I stopped by the Richmond Olympic Oval, which was one of the few new buildings erected for the recent Winter Olympics. It hosted the speed skating events. The building has already won a significant architectural award.

http://www.suite101.com/content/richmond-olympic-oval-wins-architecture-award-a158287

The environmentally conscious among us can also appreciate the use of lumber salvaged from pine beetle infested forests as its main building component.

After much debate over where we should have dinner, we opted to return to Rainflower. This was more out of convenience than anything else, but the second meal was one of the best vegetarian friendly Chinese family style meals I’ve had. The 5 dishes, unlike some dining experiences where all the dishes are served with the same brown sauce, varied in texture, colour, and taste: the pumpkin and taro hot pot in curried coconut sauce, the slightly sweet and hot sauce with the tofu and eggplant, the fish (while I can’t really comment, I was told it was very good), the garlicky sauteed pea shoots, and the lotus root in ‘nam yu’. It was a nice way to finish my very short (35 hour) visit to Vancouver.

September 8: I'm home! (in Vancouver)

I woke up just before dawn at 5:30 a.m., hoping to see the train enter Hell’s Gate, the narrowest point of the Fraser Canyon, creating a fury of rapids. That was not to be, because I had just arrived in Hope, B.C. The train was running early. That is a pity as I imagine that it would be a spectacular sight, given the placement of the rails inside the canyon (I now know why some tourists opt for the premium priced Rocky Mountaineer tour, which overnights in Kamloops, ensuring a daytime passing of the Canyon).The waters passing this narrowing is faster and more turbulent than that going over Niagara Falls. The day before, we had passed by Moose Lake, which develops into the headwaters of the mighty Fraser, a river that had been a part of my life every day for about 16 years. This river is the longest river in British Columbia and plays an important role in the economy in the province--with the pulp and paper industry, hydroelectricity, and the salmon industry. More salmon is caught from this river than anywhere else, and this year marked the most abundant harvest in the recorded history of this river.

The silhouette of the coastal mountains forming the north shore of Greater Vancouver came into view. This also is an image burned into my psyche. The city is showing off itself in one of those rare sunny days in the city.

I had my last meal on the train. My table companions were a sixty-ish couple from Yokohama, Japan, visiting St. Catherines, Ontario to participate in rowing competitions and a lovely older woman from London, Ontario, who left her scientist husband at home to take this trip across Canada on her own. I am always inspired by women who exercise their independence. I found out that she had studied at Mount Allison University, almost half a century ago, so it sounds like her independent spirit was fostered a very long time ago (Mount Allison is a tiny university in Sackville, New Brunswick where the first woman obtained her higher education degree in Canada in the 1800‘s and more graduates have become Rhodes scholars than any other liberal arts university in North America).

We backed into Vancouver’s Union Station in the heart of downtown, almost an hour ahead of schedule. (Note that train travel times on this track is highly dependent on the number of freight trains that we have to pass along the way, more so than the distance travelled.) I said my goodbyes to the many wonderful people that I had encountered in this great journey across most of Canada.

I headed home, with my luggage in tow, on the Skytrain, Vancouver’s driverless metro system. After literally decades of talks about building the Richmond connection to the Vancouver line (I remember seeing it in the plans for Expo 86), it finally did get built, in preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics in the city.

I am home once again. Yet, in many ways this is a home that has changed much over the years. Vancouver is now home to the largest Chinese population by percentage outside of Asia (Toronto has a larger population by number but a lower percentage as it is a much larger city). In the years leading up to 1997, when Hong Kong was to be returned to China after being a British colony for 99 years, many immigrated to Vancouver. It now boasts what I consider the best Cantonese cuisine in the world. There are many reasons for this: in 1997, some of the top chefs in Hong Kong settled in Vancouver. Along with the chefs were the businessmen bringing their families to the city. Most of these businessmen immigrated on a business visa, which automatically brought much wealth along with them. They would then set up home and return to Hong Kong to continue their businesses while leaving their spouses (almost exclusively women) with their children in Canada. These wives would have lots of time and money to eat out. Put into this picture the abundance of produce from the fertile Fraser Valley, and even from Richmond itself, along with the great salmon and other locally sourced ingredients. You now have excellent chefs, clientele with both time and money, fresh ingredients, and stiff competition. This meeting of circumstances lead to what many consider to be the best Cantonese cuisine in the world.

That means, that for the 1 1/2 days I will be in Vancouver on this short visit, I have plans to pack in some great food.

Today, we restaurant hopped: we started with some melt-in-your-mouth fresh-from-the-oven Portuguese style egg tarts. While these were more like egg tarts than Portuguese tarts, they were the yummiest tarts that I’ve ever had in Vancouver. (Sorry--I was so busy eating them that I forgot to take pictures!). Next came some spicy fried tofu and chow mein at the next restaurant. Then after a couple hours wandering through Richmond Centre working off the meals, I went home to some fresh-from-the-garden spotted green beans stir fried to perfection by mother.

It was time to meet up with Sylvia. Sylvia is someone whom I had met while studying in London in 2002. Since then, our paths would cross at various occasions in various spots on the globe. These short encounters are always pleasant, as I see her as a kindred spirit in many ways (yes, one of my favourite books is Anne of Green Gables).

This was a long day, and I was happy to crawl into my own bed at the end of the day. Sleeping without the clickety clack was a welcome change.

September 7: Heading into the Rockies

We arrived in cold crisp Edmonton at 6 a.m. The train station that services the Canadian VIA train is quite a distance from the city centre so there was little to do but watch the addition and subtraction of carriages: a Panorama viewing car was added while a couple sleepers were removed.

Today brings us to the highlight of the Canadian train journey: the Rockies.

The sun was shining as we pulled out of Edmonton, giving a sheen to the passing landscape that was lacking the last couple of days. This was good, as I was starting to hear some grumblings from visitors to Canada that they were disappointed in the lack of wildlife spotted and that the scenery was not as dramatic as they had expected. A bonus was the mountain goat spotted, standing erect as if it were a statue.

The 1 1/2 hours in the town of Jasper was only enough for a good stretch of the legs and a bit of window shopping. I would have liked to have a few days here to do some hiking instead of continuing on to Vancouver. If only my schedule were not so tight. Maybe next time? When I embarked on this journey, it was meant to be a one off thing. But I have been quite content sitting in the train these past few days and would consider a repeat in the future. I didn’t get half the reading in that I had planned, what with the interesting people that I’ve been meeting along the way.